Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#850
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Rainn Wilson represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 27 years in, and Rainn is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Rainn Wilson appears in 36 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Rainn. Laughing Matters is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, comedy, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Bayan Joonam, Kornél Mundruczó, Christopher Leone and others, Rainn Wilson helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Laughing Matters (2019) as Self · Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020) as Lex Luthor (voice) · Empire Waist (2024) as Mark Miller
Career snapshot
Ranked #850 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
36
1999–2026
Career length
27 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Laughing Matters
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
Most frequent director
Jake Castorena
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Jake Castorena
Most common genre
Comedy
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 37m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.4
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
7.1 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Galaxy Quest — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.1
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.1
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Galaxy Quest.
Most productive era
2010s
14 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.62 films | 6.77 films | 5.85 films |
| Action | — | 6.12 films | 6.87 films | 4.94 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 5.82 films | 6.61 film |
| Comedy | 7.11 film | 6.06 films | 6.44 films | 5.29 films |
| Crime | — | — | 7.21 film | 0.01 film |
| Romance | — | 6.03 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | 6.21 film | 6.13 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999Galaxy Quest
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lahnk.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2019Laughing Matters
8.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026At the Sea
The current state of the argument, as George.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
36 of 36 films
as Mark Miller
Directed by Unknown
as Self
Directed by Unknown
as Lex Luthor (voice)
Directed by Jake Castorena
as Randy
Directed by Christopher Leone
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Mark Miller
Empire Waist (2024)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mark Miller gives Rainn Wilson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self
Laughing Matters (2019)
Performance score7.8
Laughing Matters asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lex Luthor (voice)
The Death of Superman (2019)
Performance score7.8
The Death of Superman asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lex Luthor (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Randy
Code 3 (2025)
Performance score7.7
Code 3 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Randy is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Mark Miller
Start here. Empire Waist is the clearest statement of what Rainn Wilson does — accessible, 97 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Rainn at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Laughing Matters (2019)
Same director as Empire Waist, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Death of Superman (2019)
A deliberate change of key after Laughing Matters — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Jerry & Marge Go Large (2022)
Keeps the drama register of The Death of Superman but asks for a colder reading of it.
Code 3 (2025)
Keeps the comedy register of Jerry & Marge Go Large but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jake Castorena
Director
3 films together
Notably The Death of Superman
Dean Parisot
Director
1 film together
Notably Galaxy Quest
Joe Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably America's Sweethearts
Rob Zombie
Director
1 film together
Notably House of 1000 Corpses
Breck Eisner
Director
1 film together
Notably Sahara
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Jason Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Juno
Peter Ramsey
Director
1 film together
Notably Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Rob Letterman
Director
1 film together
Notably Monsters vs Aliens
Spencer Susser
Director
1 film together
Notably Hesher
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Super
Craig William Macneill
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boy
Kelly Asbury
Director
1 film together
Notably Smurfs: The Lost Village
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably The Meg
Roger Michell
Director
1 film together
Notably Blackbird
Joey Soloway
Director
1 film together
Notably Transparent: Musicale Finale
Matt Peters
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
David Frankel
Director
1 film together
Notably Jerry & Marge Go Large
Eric Appel
Director
1 film together
Notably Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
David Feiss
Director
1 film together
Notably Hitpig!
Tony Goldwyn
Director
1 film together
Notably Ezra
Logic
Director
1 film together
Notably Paradise Records
Christopher Leone
Director
1 film together
Notably Code 3
Kornél Mundruczó
Director
1 film together
Notably At the Sea
Bayan Joonam
Director
1 film together
Notably Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jake Castorena
Director
3 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Death of SupermanMatt Peters
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League Dark: Apokolips WarDavid Frankel
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jerry & Marge Go LargeJason Reitman
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JunoChristopher Leone
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Code 3Dean Parisot
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Galaxy QuestTony Goldwyn
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EzraRoger Michell
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BlackbirdSpencer Susser
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HesherEric Appel
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Weird: The Al Yankovic StoryJoey Soloway
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transparent: Musicale FinaleDavid Feiss
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hitpig!Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MegJames Gunn
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SuperRob Letterman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Monsters vs AliensKelly Asbury
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Smurfs: The Lost VillageMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers: Revenge of the FallenRob Zombie
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
House of 1000 CorpsesPeter Ramsey
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mutant Pumpkins from Outer SpaceBreck Eisner
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SaharaCraig William Macneill
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BoyJoe Roth
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
America's SweetheartsIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Super Ex-GirlfriendLogic
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paradise RecordsBayan Joonam
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life SuperheroKornél Mundruczó
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
At the SeaSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Empire Waist
as Mark Miller
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Juno
as Rollo
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Laughing Matters
as Self
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Transparent: Musicale Finale
as Arthur
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Empire Waist
as Mark Miller
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Rainn Wilson has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
27 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
20 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
as Lex Luthor (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Batman: Hush
as Lex Luthor (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Juno
as Rollo
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Batman: Hush
as Lex Luthor (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
as Lex Luthor (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
as Lex Luthor (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Transparent: Musicale Finale
as Arthur
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Meg
as Morris
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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